BBC's Breakfast set for Salford move

Salford could become the new home for the BBC's flagship Breakfast news programme as it prepares to take on a revitalised GMTV in the early morning ratings war. BBC sources have confirmed to the Manchester Evening News that Breakfast is being earmkarked for a move to the MediaCityUK site at Salford Quays.

Salford could become the new home for the BBC's flagship Breakfast news programme as it prepares to take on a revitalised GMTV in the early morning ratings war.

BBC sources have confirmed to the Manchester Evening News that Breakfast is being earmkarked for a move to the MediaCityUK site at Salford Quays.

"The BBC has always been clear that it wants to move more of its output to Salford, and while no final decisions have been made, we are, as you would expect, considering a range of options,” a spokesman said.

BBC Breakfast is currently broadcast from 6am each morning from a studio with BBC Television Centre, west London.

A move north for would force some of the corporation's most familiar faces to decide whether to stay with the show and relocate to Greater Manchester or seek alternative work in London.

The current BBC Breakfast presenting team includes Sian Williams, Bill Turnbull, Susanna Reid and Charlie Stayt.

Between 90 and 100 people work on the programme, which broadcasts for three hours each week day and four hours at the weekend.

If the programme does move, Salford Quays itself could provide a scenic backdrop to the live mix of news and current affairs.

In an embarrassing faux pas for the BBC, news of the potential move for the BBC 1 Breakfast show emerged in a Tweet on the Twitter social networking site by James Laidler, a journalist who describes himself as looking “after all things social media” for the programme.

His Tweet read: “Awful mood in office today - emerges Breakfast is very likely moving to Salford by 2012 and we'll have 6 months to decide if we go too.”

Upheaval

In a later Tweet he said that the “awful mood” he referred to was related to the upheaval of families relocating to the north west rather than any ill feeling towards Salford.

“I shld [sic] point out that none of sentiment is because of Salford itself. It's compressed timescale of relocation compared with other teams,” he Tweeted.

All of his comments about the proposed moved were later removed from his Twitter account.

The success of BBC Breakfast is believed to be a factor in a multi-million pound relaunch of ITV's rival GMTV breakfast show, which will go live as Daybreak in September.

BBC Breakfast was 400,000 viewers ahead of GMTV in November of last year and has struggled ever since being implicated in a scandal related to competitions.

The rebrand will coincide with the arrival of new presenters Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley, both of whom were poached from the BBC One Show.

It is understood that still more BBC programmes could be relocated to MediaCityUK, with the overall headcount set at around 2,500 people.

Five BBC departments are so far confirmed that they are moving to Salford Quays – BBC Children's, BBC Learning, BBC Five Live, BBC Sport and BBC Future Media And Technology.

A total of 1,800 posts are moving to Salford Quays from London, with the remaining 800 posts moving across from Oxford Road.